OFFSTAGE: Taylor Swift’s Red Inspired by Relationships

(CMT Offstage keeps a 24/7 watch on everything that’s happening with country music artists behind the scenes and out of the spotlight.)

Taylor Swift gave fans the chance to ask questions about her just-announced album Red during an online chat last night (Aug. 13). And her longest answer, by far, was in response to a woman from Nashville who asked Swift simply, “What are some experiences that have influenced this album?”

And here’s the answer Swift gave: “I tend to kind of skew in the direction of writing about love-related things. Relationship, feeling-related-esque type situations. And so that’s kind of where I naturally go. But I ended up being inspired by a lot of really crazy, sort of zero-to-100 and then hits a wall and then explodes relationships. Which are so fun to write about. Really dysfunctional and not good generally, but when you write about them it gives you a lot of inspiration.”

She continued, “So there were the things I went through personally, and then there are stories I kind of witnessed going on around me. When I’m writing an album, my world kind of becomes a big storyboard. And everyone in it becomes a character. Or has the potential to become a character. And all my friends and family members and everybody around me kind of knows that. So that last two years have been really inspirational. I was just constantly writing.”